How We Reason

Philip Johnson-Laird

One of the pioneers in the psychology of reasoning provides a groundbreaking and fascinating account of the psychology of thinking and reasoning

Written to be accessible to a broad academic audience - undergraduate level upwards

Outlines a new approach to understanding reasoning, showing how it can succeed in predicting outcomes that are successful, and in predicting those that are not

Looks at reasoning across a range of real life situations - from terrorism to irrational fears about illness

How We Reason

Philip Johnson-Laird

Description

Good reasoning can lead to success; bad reasoning can lead to catastrophe. Yet, it's not obvious how we reason, and why we make mistakes. This new book by one of the pioneers of the field, Philip Johnson-Laird, looks at the mental processes that underlie our reasoning. It provides the most accessible account yet of the science of reasoning.

How We Reason

Philip Johnson-Laird

Table of Contents

1. IntroductionPart I - The World in our Conscious Minds 2. Icons and images3. Models of possibilities: from conjuring tricks to disastersPart II - The World in our Unconscious Minds 4. Mental architecture and the unconscious5. Intuitions and unconscious reasoning6. Emotions as inferences7. Reasoning in psychological illnessesPart III - How We Make Deductions 8. Only connections9. I'm my own grandpa: reasoning about identities and other relations10. Syllogisms and reasoning about properties11. Isn't everyone an optimist? The case of complex reasoningPart IV - How We Make Inductions 12. Modulation: a step towards induction13. Knowledge and inductions14. Sherlock Holmes's
method: abduction15. The balance of probabilitiesPart V - What Makes Us Rational 16. Counterexamples17. Truths, falsehoods, and the invention of logicPart VI - How We Develop our Ability to Reason 18. How reasoning develops from childhood19. Strategies and cultures20. How can we improve our reasoningPart VII - Knowledge, Beliefs, and Problems 21. The puzzles of 'if'22. The problems of causation and obligation23. Beliefs, heresies, and changes in mind24. How we solve problemsPart VIII - Expert Reasoning in Technology, Logic, and Science 25. Flying bicycles: how the Wright brothers invented the airplane26. Unwrapping an Enigma27. On the mode of communication of choleraConclusions 28. How we reason

How We Reason

Philip Johnson-Laird

Author Information

Phil Johnson-Laird was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1936. He left school at the age of 15 and spent ten years in a variety of occupations until he went to University College London to read psychology. He later gained his Ph.D. there under the supervision of Peter Wason, and he joined the faculty in 1966. In 1971, he was a visiting member of the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, where he began a collaboration with George A. Miller. Subsequently, he held positions at the University of Sussex (1973-1981) and at the Medical Research Council's Applied Psychology Unit (1981-1989) in Cambridge, where he was also a Fellow of Darwin College. He returned to Princeton in 1989 to be a member of the faculty at the University, where he is the Stuart Professor of Psychology.
His research concerns thinking, emotions, creativity, and music.

How We Reason

Philip Johnson-Laird

Reviews and Awards

"Johnson-Laird gives fascinating accounts of some major examples of scientific reasoning, such as the Wright brothers' designing of the first successful airplane, how the codes underlying the Nazi Enigma machine were broken, and how John Snow discovered the link between fecal contamination of drinking water and outbreaks of cholera."--Science